Dagaa dominates the dried-fish market in Tanzania – Video

This video was filmed in a village market at Kilimanjaro (Tanzania). As expected, the as a village market, very many items are vegetables, fruits, home utilities, and a lot more. In regard to fish, only dried, salted and smoked fish are displayed.

Dagaa, such small fish whether dried/salted, and or smoked seemed dominated the fish displays in the market which most likely indicating the importance of dagga in the people’s diet especially in rural areas.

The sale of dagaa is by scoop as shown in the video as each size of the containers has its price. Few dagaa displays might have some smoked catfish and tilapia in a way to satisfy the consumer demand. It was very obvious that women control the market of dried fish in village markets.

Dried dagaa is produced by sun-drying which is often done by women. It takes one day or more to complete the sun-drying depending on the weather.

This small fish is the silver cyprinid, (Rastrineobola argentea) that is produced mainly from Lake Victoria. Dagaa fishing in Lake Victoria is done using light attraction during moonless nights where 10-mm mesh nets is the official size.

Unlike other small fish in Lake Victoria, “dagaa” –being a fast swimmer- was able to withstand the predation pressure caused mainly by the introduced Nile perch, (Lates niloticus). That is why “dagaa” is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.